# Flag of Sri Lanka

The flag of Sri Lanka (Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ජාතික කොඩිය, romanized: Sri Lankave jathika kodiya; Tamil: இலங்கையின் தேசியக்கொடி, romanized: Ilankaiyin teciyakkoṭi), also called the Sinha Flag or Lion Flag, consists of a golden lion holding a kastane sword in its right fore-paw in a maroon background with four gold bo leaves, one in each corner. This is bordered by gold, and to its left are two vertical stripes of equal size in teal and orange, with the orange stripe closest to the lion.
The lion and the maroon background represent the Sinhalese race, while the saffron border and four bo leaves represent the concepts of meththa, karuṇā, muditā and upecka respectively. The stripes represent the country's two largest minority ethnicities, with the orange stripe representing the Tamils inhabitants—namely the Sri Lankan Tamils and the Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka—and the teal stripe representing the Sri Lankan Moors (Muslims of Sri Lanka). The golden yellow border is a catch-all representing the various minority communities of the country.

## History
### Monarchical Sri Lanka

As depicted on a mural in Cave no. 2 at Dambulla Viharaya, King Dutugemunu on his campaign against Elara (an invading South Indian ruler in 162 BC) is depicted with a banner containing a lion figure carrying a sword in its right forepaw, a symbol of the Sun and one of the Moon. This flag was known as the only ancient representation of the lion flag of the Sinhalese but in 1957, the lion figure on it was defaced by a vandal.
* Flags of Sri Lanka (Until 1815)
* Flag of Dutugamunu, Anuradhapura period
* Flag of Kingdom of Gampola's flag, c. 1341–1408
* Flag of the Kingdom of Kotte's flag, c. 1412–1597
* Flag of Kingdom of Sitawaka's flag, c. 1521-1594
* Standard of Sri Vikrama Rajasinha of Kandy, used as the Kingdom of Kandy's flag, c. 1798–1815

### British Ceylon period

This basic design continued to be in use until 1815, when the Kandyan Convention ended the reign of the country's last native monarch, Sri Vikrama Rajasinha, replacing his royal standard (used as the Flag of the Kingdom of Kandy) with the Union Flag as the nation's accepted flag. The government of British Ceylon later established its own flag, while Sri Vikrama Rajasinha's standard was taken to England and kept at the Royal Hospital Chelsea.
* Flags of Sri Lanka (1815-1948)
* Flag of British Ceylon, 1815–1875
* Flag of British Ceylon, 1875–1948

### Sri Lanka (since 1948)

As the independence movement in Sri Lanka gained strength in the early 20th century, E. W. Perera and D. R. Wijewardena discovered the original Lioness Flag in Chelsea. A photo of it was published in Dinamina, in a special edition marking a century since the loss of self-rule and Sri Lankan independence. The flag provoked much interest from the public who, for the first time since the fall of the Kandyan Kingdom, had seen its actual design.
Member of Parliament for Batticaloa, Mudaliyar A. Sinnalebbe, suggested in Parliament on January 16, 1948, that the Lion Flag should be accepted as the national flag. In 1948, the flag was adopted as the national flag of the Dominion of Ceylon, undergoing two changes: one in 1953 and a redesign in 1972. A notable feature of the 1972 adaptation of the Kandyan standard was the replacement of the four spearheads at the flag's corners by four bo leaves, a design choice made under the direction of Nissanka Wijeyeratne, Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and Chairman of the National Emblem and Flag Design Committee.
* Flags of Sri Lanka (since 1948)
* Flag of the Dominion of Ceylon, 1948–1951
* Flag of the Dominion of Ceylon (similar to current), 1951–1972

## Symbolism

According to the Buddhist Mahavamsa chronicle, the Sinhala Buddhists are descended from Prince Vijaya, whose father Sinhabahu was the son of a lion and a human princess. This myth is reflected in the national flag, with its lion symbolizing the Sinhala race.
The national flag of Sri Lanka represents the country and its heritage as a rallying device. Most symbols in the flag have been given distinctive meanings.
| Symbol | Represents |
| The Lion | The Sinhala ethnicity and the strength of the nation |
| The bo leaves | The four Buddhist virtues of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity |
| The sword of the lion | The sovereignty of the nation |
| The curly hair on the lion's head | Religious observance, wisdom and meditation |
| The eight hairs on the lion's tail | The Noble Eightfold Path |
| The beard of the lion | Purity of words |
| The handle of the sword | The classical elements of water, fire, air and earth |
| The nose of the lion | Intelligence |
| The two front paws of the lion | Purity in handling wealth |
| Orange stripe | The Tamil ethnicity (including the Hill Country Tamils of Indian ancestry) |
| Teal stripe | The Moor ethnicity |
| Saffron border | Buddhism and unity among the people |
| The maroon background | The Sinhala ethnicity |
| The golden yellow border | Other minority communities of Sri Lanka, such as the Malays, the Burghers, the Indigenous Veddas, the Kaffirs and, the Sri Lankan Chinese, who migrated to Sri Lanka during the 17th–19th centuries. |

## Colours

The colors of the national flag are specified in the document "SLS 1: 2020: Specification for the National Flag of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka".
| Colours scheme | Yellow | Maroon | Orange | Teal |
| CMYK | 0-26-90-3 | 0-80-66-42 | 0-48-100-13 | 100-0-9-63 |
| HEX | #F7B718 | #941E32 | #DF7500 | #005F56 |
| RGB | 247-183-24 | 148-30-50 | 223-117-0 | 0-95-86 |
| Pantone | 14-0957 TCX | 19-1863 TCX | 16-1164 TCX | 18-5322 TCX |

## Gallery

* Flown at the Embassy in Warsaw
* Displayed outside a stadium, in Leeds, UK
* Mountaineer Jayanthi Kuru-Utumpala with Sri Lankan flag atop Mount Everest
* Hung vertically, along a street in Malaysia
* Displayed along other flags during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London
* Used at a sports event